Abstract
This review analyzes criminal record stigma and surveillance through the concept of digital punishment: the collection and widespread dissemination of personally identifiable data by the American criminal legal system and subsequent private actors. The analysis is organized into three parts: a descriptive account of the technological, legal, and social factors that have created mass criminal record data; a theoretical framework for understanding digital criminal records through stigma and surveillance theories; and an argument that contemporary criminal records constitute digital punishment, with emphasis placed on how digital records are disordered, commodified, and biased. I close by raising policy-relevant questions about the widespread disclosure and uses of criminal legal system data for extralegal purposes.
| Original language | American English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 67-90 |
| Number of pages | 24 |
| Journal | Annual Review of Criminology |
| Volume | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2021 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Law
Keywords
- Criminal records
- Punishment
- Stigma
- Surveillance
- Technology